Table of Contents
1.1 Introduction 2
1.1.1 United Nations 2
1.1.2 Development of the United Nations 3
1.1.3 Origins 3
1.2 The Roles of the United Nations 4
1.3 Secretary-General 5
2.1 Roles of the Secretary-General of United Nations 7
2.2 Develop those around him 8
2.2.1 The Global Goals: For Sustainable Development 9
2.3 Inspiration 10
2.3 Heart of Humanity 12
2.4 Demonstrate Successful Intelligence: Practical Intelligence, Analytical Intelligence and Creative Intelligence 13
2.5 Moral Courage 15
Abstract
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 United Nations
United Nations (UN), international organization, consisting of 192 autonomous member states as of 2007. Under its charter, the UN was established “to maintain international peace and security”; “to develop friendly relations among nations”; and “to achieve international cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian problems” and in “encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms.” Members are pledged to settle international disputes by peaceful means, refrain from the threat or use of force, assist the UN in actions ordered under the charter and refrain from assisting any country against which such UN action is being taken, and act according to the charter’s principles.
The organization and its then-secretary-general Kofi Annan received the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize “for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.” The peace prize was also awarded to UN mediator Ralph J. Bunche (1950) and to Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld (posthumously in 1961); the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (1954; 1981); the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, won it in 1965, the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 1969, the UN Peacekeeping Forces in 1988, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director, Mohamed ElBaradei, in 2005. The intergovernmental panel on climate change, established by the UN Environmental Program, and the World Meteorological Association shared the 2007 peace prize, with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, for efforts to spread knowledge about the impact of global warming.
1.1.2 Development of the United Nations
The UN is usually considered the successor to the League of Nations, the international organization formed after World War I to serve many of the same purposes. The league, however, failed to maintain peace and grew progressively weaker in the years just before World War II.
1.1.3 Origins
The first commitment to establish a new international organization was made in the Atlantic Charter, signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on Aug. 14, 1941, at a conference held on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland. They pledged to establish a “wider and permanent system of general security” and expressed their desire “to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field.” The principles of the Atlantic Charter were more widely accepted in the Declaration by United Nations, signed on Jan. 1, 1942, by representatives of 26 allied nations that were fighting against the Axis Powers. In this document the term United Nations, suggested by Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with the name United Nations in 1942. Previously, the proposed name was the League of Nations.
Direct action to form the new organization was taken at a 1943 conference in Moscow. On October 30, representatives of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China, and the U.S. signed a declaration in which they recognized the need to establish “at the earliest practicable date a general international organization.” Meeting in Tehran, Iran, a month later, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Soviet PremierJoseph Stalin reaffirmed “the supreme responsibility resting upon us and all the United Nations to make a peace which will . . . banish the scourge and terror of war.”
Following up on the Moscow declaration, representatives of the four powers met at the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1944, to work out a series of proposals for an international organization. They agreed on a draft charter that specified its purposes, structure, and methods of operation, but they could not agree on a method of voting in the proposed Security Council, which was to have the major responsibility for peace and security.
The voting issue was settled at Yalta, in Crimea, in February 1945, when Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met for the last of their wartime conferences (see Yalta Conference). Essentially, the Soviet leader accepted the Anglo-American position that limited great-power prerogatives on procedural matters, but retained the right of Veto on substantive issues. At the same time, the allied leaders called for a conference of United Nations to prepare the charter of the new organization.
Delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco on April 25, 1945, for what was officially known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization. During a two-month period, they completed a charter consisting of 111 articles, based on the draft developed at Dumbarton Oaks. The charter was approved on June 25 and signed the next day; it became effective on Oct. 24, 1945, after ratification by a majority of the signatories. The bonds of the wartime alliance against common enemies undoubtedly hastened agreement on establishing the new organization.
1.2 The Roles of the United Nations
As the most representative inter-governmental organization of the world today, the United Nations' role in world affairs is irreplaceable by any other international or regional organizations. The United Nations has made enormous positive contributions in maintaining international peace and security, promoting cooperation among states and international development. Today, people of the world still face the two major issues of peace and development. Only by international cooperation can mankind meet the challenges of the global and regional issues. The United Nations can play a pivotal and positive role in this regard. Strengthening the role of the United Nations in the new century and promoting the establishment of a just and reasonable international political and economic order goes along with the trend of history and is in the interest of all nations.
In order to strengthen the role of the United Nations, efforts should be made to uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The authority of the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security must be preserved and role of the United Nations in development area should be strengthened. To strengthen the role of the United Nations, it is essential to ensure to all Member States of the United Nations the right to equal participation in international affairs and the rights and interests of the developing countries should be safeguard.
1.3 Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is an irreplaceable figure in world politics. At once civil servant and the world’s diplomat, lackey of the UN Security Council and commander-in-chief of up to 100,000 peacekeepers, he or she depends on states for both the legitimacy and resources that enable the United Nations to function.. The first Secretary- General, the Norwegian Trygve Lie (1946–1952), memorably welcomed his successor to New York’s Idlewild Airport with the words: “You are about to enter the most impossible job on this earth.” (Simon Chesterman,2006)
Apart from being a diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO, the Secretary-General assembles United Nations ideals and a representative for the world's peoples, in especially the poor and helpless among them. Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the United Nations Secretariat. Being in this position, a Secretary-General is considered the leader of the United Nations and diplomatic ranks highest in the world. The current Secretary-General, and the eighth resident of the post, is Mr. Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, who took over the position from his predecessor, Kofi Anan on 1 January 2007.
The Charter describes the Secretary-General as "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, who shall act in that capacity and perform "such other functions as are entrusted" to him or her by the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and other United Nations organs. The Charter also empowers the Secretary-General to "bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security". These guidelines both define the powers of the office and grant it considerable scope for action. The Secretary-General would fail if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States, but he must also uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations, and speak and act for peace, even at the risk, from time to time, of challenging or disagreeing with those same Member States.
That creative tension accompanies the Secretary-General through day-to-day work that includes attendance at sessions of United Nations bodies; consultations with world leaders, government officials, and others; and worldwide travel intended to keep him in touch with the peoples of the Organization's Member States and informed about the vast array of issues of international concern that are on the Organization's agenda. Each year, the Secretary-General issues a report on the work of the United Nations that appraises its activities and outlines future priorities. The Secretary-General is also Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), which brings together the Executive Heads of all UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies twice a year in order to further coordination and cooperation in the entire range of substantive and management issues facing the United Nations System
Number Name Country of Origin Years
1 Trygve Lie Norway 1 February 1946 – 10 November 1952
2 Dag Hammarskjöld Sweden 10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961
3 U Thant
Myanmar 30 November 1961 –31 December 1971
4 Kurt Waldheim
Austria 1 January 1972 – 31 December 1981
5 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Peru 1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991
6 Boutros Boutros-Ghali Mesir 1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996
7 Kofi Annan Ghana 1 January 1997 – 31 December 2006
8 Ban Ki-moon Korea Selatan 1 January 2007– 31 December 2016
Table 1.0 List of Secretary- General
Considering the multiple and pressing challenges the United Nations faces today, Secretary-General, as top international public servant should play the proper role to make the world a better place for mankind. There are several required qualities and discipline of a Secretary-General in view of the practices and achievements of the successive Secretary-Generals which are going to be discussed after this.
2.1 Roles of the Secretary-General of United Nations
Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, the executive body of the UN. In addition, he is a mediator in the settlement of disputes diplomatically. Secretary-General is elected every five years. Nominations made by the Secretary-General of the Security Council, while the UN General Assembly to appoint one of the candidates through the toss. Secretary-General is appointed for a period of five years. Usually the Secretary-General is to serve for two terms.
One of the most vital roles played by the Secretary-General is the use of his "good offices" — steps taken publicly and in private, drawing upon his independence, impartiality and integrity, to prevent international disputes from arising, escalating or spreading.
2.2 Develop those around him
A proper role of a Secretary-General is he is able to develop those around him. The development mentioned means that he takes initiative to bring his people a step forward.
“We can make 2016 a year of accomplishment and truly build a life of dignity for we the people”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Sustainable development has been a priority for Ban Ki-moon since he became United Nations Secretary-General on 1 January 2007. One of his first major initiatives was the 2007 Climate Change Summit, followed by extensive diplomatic efforts that have helped put the issue at the forefront of the global agenda. The Millennium Development Goals, that is, the 2000-2015 efforts to focus on the world’s main anti-poverty targets, have generated more than $60 billion in pledges from governments, nonprofits and the private sector.
In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with a set of 17 bold new Global Goals, which Mr. Ban hailed as a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world.
2.2.1 The Global Goals: For Sustainable Development
The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a shared vision of humanity and a social contract between the world’s leaders and the people (Ban Ki-moon, 2016).
Figure 1 the Global Goals
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on countries to begin efforts to achieve the 17 SDGs over the next 15 years. The goals address the needs of people in both developed and developing countries, emphasizing that no one should be left behind. Broad and ambitious in scope, the Agenda addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental, as well as important aspects related to peace, justice and effective institutions.
The mobilization of means of implementation, including financial resources, technology development and transfer and capacity-building, as well as the role of partnerships, are also acknowledged as critical.
The 17 SDGs build on the eight MDGs, which specifically sought by 2015: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
These actions which have been brought up by Mr Ban Ki-moon shows that he has the aim to develop the people around him for a better life as well as making earth a better place to live. The 17 SDGs has been set up to cover every aspect of human lives based on the major common problems which have been big obstacle for the earth citizen.
2.3 Inspiration
Though inspiration often looks forward to the future, it’s also important for the present; it gives people a reason to fight for, to succeed, and to do their best in everything they do.
Secretary-General plays a vital role in inspiring others to share the same vision and mission with him and dare to take action to face the global challenges. As hunger is one of the matters that has been concerned in the Global Development Goals, the Secretary-General acts by call upon all the global leaders to take action in overcome this problem.
An African proverb teaches that “fine words do not produce food”. That wise counsel is foremost in my mind as leaders gather in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a pivotal global financing conference to put the world on course to end poverty and protect the planet (The Guardian, 2015)
In December, governments have committed to reach a first-of-its-kind universal and meaningful climate change agreement in Paris. But without resources, commitments will amount to little more than promises on paper.
According to Mr Ban Ki-moon, he often hears people say that business and sustainable development are not compatible however the facts prove otherwise. At the climate summit in New York last September, hundreds of business leaders committed nearly $200bn in sustainable development investments. Around the world, companies that are building sustainability-centred business models are reaping rewards in better performance and higher profit.
With the right investments and policies, poverty can be ended now by the current generation and be the last that avoids the worst effects of climate change.
Mr Ban Ki-moon inspires global leaders that they must now back up fine words with food – and set the table for sustainable development and a life of dignity for all.
As written by an author in a blog named Greenbook, in an article entitled, ‘Why Inspirations Matter’ he recently asked a client to share their existing research to support an upcoming innovation journey. They pulled out a big cardboard box filled with impressive stacks of reports. They had competitive intelligence, audience needs, brand awareness and usage patterns. But even with all this, the client was having trouble identifying a strong starting point for innovation, for developing the “what’s next” in their product offering. They had research, but no direction. They had information, but no inspiration. And innovation needs inspiration.
Inspiration provides a critical kind of illumination. It doesn’t provide answers, but it does reveal the paths that can lead to solutions. Inspiration helps someone examine the challenges with increased clarity and a new awareness of possibilities and these are the things that needed by United Nations in overcoming global challenges.
Inspiration gives leaders a new lens of focus, allowing them to isolate insights that are striking and compelling. It elevates the leaders expectations, and also makes them smarter and more vigorous editor of information, insights and ideas.
As inspiration improves the vision of those around the inspirer, he can now re-organize and reinterpret well-worn paths to capture the attention of people around him.
Inspiration isn’t easy, and it isn’t automatic. But finding ways to become inspired and stay inspired is worth it. Inspiration gives you a new lens of focus, allowing you to isolate insights that are striking and compelling. (Greenbook, 2013)
2.3 Heart of Humanity
The earth citizens have come a long way in learning the methods of building relations and crafting civilizations to occupy this world with livelihood full of love and synchronization. Everybody must play their role in bringing forwards the human race to a honourable and gallant residence on this planet. Service to humanity results in the cohesion. It brings hope and life to the browbeaten and the dismayed.
On 23rd February 2016, the current Secretary- General of United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon recapped his call for support from Member States to resolve such global humanitarian issues as the refugee and migrant crisis and ensuring human dignity for all. He went for a site visit which hosting internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Mr. Ban said that more aggressive actions need to be taken to bring back all the homeless children back to education life and there a lot more need to be done to uphold human dignity especially women’s and children’s rights by protecting them from sexual violence.
On the same day, he spoke with women in the IDP camp in Mungote, describing the experience as “very humbling.” He marked his words that as Secretary-General, he will do his best efforts by working together with the United Nations Member States.
Besides, the United Nations is marking International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2016 with the theme “inclusion matters” to nurture awareness and drum up sustenance for some one billion people living with disabilities who remain one of the most marginalized groups in the world.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities has been celebrated on 3 December since 1992. In Mr. Ban message during the celebration, he said that in order to build a sustainable and all-encompassing world for all requires the full commitment of people of all abilities. He shows the heart of humanity by not neglecting those who have different abilities from the normal person.
2.4 Demonstrate Successful Intelligence: Practical Intelligence, Analytical Intelligence and Creative Intelligence
As Sternberg calls them, the three intelligences or successful intelligence consists of three types of intelligence namely practical intelligence, analytical intelligence and creative intelligence. This successful intelligence is the set of abilities which linked together that needed to accomplish success in life, within his or her sociocultural perspective.
Practical intelligence is different from academic intelligence. Practical intelligence is the capability that individuals use to find the best fit between themselves and the environment’s needs.
For example, practical action of international relations is not about being involve in intelligent and sophisticated debate about the differences between functionalism and constructivism. Furthermore, it means more than being able to read in meetings from the right prompt cards it might have been good enough for an evidently Secretary- General of recent decades to know one big thing rather than many things and this responsibility requires an ability to absorb, retain, and mentally organise a huge amount of information across a very wide scope.
It also means an ability to see arrays and natures in that data flow, and can see prospects as they arise. It is essential for The Secretary-General to be able to diagnose the good ideas that come up from people around him and his environment but he does not necessarily have to produce decent ideas. Likewise, he has to know enough about people and their imperfections to have a fortuitous of making the veracious personnel choices.
Analytical intelligence is the ability to analyze and evaluate ideas, solve problems and make decisions. For instance, being able to look at a situation in life and figure out several ways to go about the issues that situation causes. This is shown by the Secretary-General’s Climate Resilience.
Recently, UN issued a report issued indicated that over the last two decades, 90 per cent of chief disasters have been caused by 6,457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other weather-related events.
According to Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, he urge the UN system to find the inventiveness because there are a lot of people who did not contribute to the climate change, but they stand to lose their homes, their jobs, and even their lives because of the growing impacts of climate change.
The Secretary-General’s Climate Resilience Initiative shows a new era in the way the United Nations and its agencies think about the global future, said Dr Judith Rodin, author of The Resilience Dividend and president of The Rockefeller Foundation, which has made pioneering investments of more than a half-billion dollars to build resilience globally over the past decade. In addition, Dr Judith Rodin also said that, crisis is the new normal, and the challenging world hassles that the global leaders try to find solutions that unravel manifold problems at once and by the same time firming up the fabric of their communities, economies, and lives.
Creative intelligence involves exceeding what is provided to produce impressive yet interesting ideas. Individuals who are creative are able to come out with changes and envision forthcoming chances. Creative leaders are a crucial resource needed to solve to tough problems. They are the ones who can sail across the future and are able to encircle vagueness and reframe hitches as opportunities. They have competencies that include how to read and understand the environment, build alliances, make out the significance of social responsibility. In addition, effective Secretary-General are willing to take jeopardies and think outside the box.
2.5 Moral Courage
Where personal support becomes most important is when one goes right out on a limb, saying or doing what is absolutely the right thing, because it’s the right thing, but knowing that you will generate a firestorm in the process. The really first-rate Secretaries-General are those who have been prepared to put themselves and their reputations absolutely on the line in this respect: moral authority doesn’t come from preaching bland nostrums that will offend no one, but from taking real risks.
The former Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, exhibited some great examples of moral courage during his time as the UN Secretary- General. For instance, his General Assembly speech in 1999 challenging not only the whole international community to confront the challenge of genocide, atrocity crimes, and humanitarian intervention, but the developing countries in particular to recognize that their sovereignty was not absolute in this respect; and then later-on, to spread the outrage even-handedly, his sharp-witted that the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was illegal as a matter of international law, and his willpower to open up the issue of Security Council permanent membership, knowing the chances of change were slight, and that this was absolutely no way to win the affection of any member of the permanent members.
That’s moral courage on the high-ground issues, but there is plenty of scope for courage on more common peace and security issues. There may not be all that much hope for a Secretary-General saying an outright “no” when member states seem determined to follow some revolting or undeliverable course, but there is certainly scope for push-back, rather than timid reflex acquiescence; the best Secretaries-General have always been willing and able to do that